A Week of Care for Our Common Home

 

All-powerful God, you are present in the whole universe 

and in the smallest of your creatures.

You embrace with your tenderness all that exists.

Pour out upon us the power of your love,

that we may protect life and beauty.

Fill us with peace, that we may live

as brothers and sisters, harming no one.

O God of the poor,

help us to rescue the abandoned and forgotten of this earth, 

so precious in your eyes.

Bring healing to our lives,

that we may protect the world and not prey on it,

that we may sow beauty, not pollution and destruction.

Touch the hearts

of those who look only for gain

at the expense of the poor and the earth.

Teach us to discover the worth of each thing,

to be filled with awe and contemplation,

to recognize that we are profoundly united

with every creature as we journey towards your infinite light.

We thank you for being with us each day.

Encourage us, we pray, in our struggle

for justice, love and peace. (from Laudato Si)

When I proposed a study group at Trenton United Church on the subject of the tenth anniversary of the Laudato Si encyclical I was aware, as we all were, that Pope Francis was in failing health. Our study dates were for late March and early April and by the end of the sessions Francis was gravely ill. He died on Easter Sunday just a few weeks before the Roman Catholic church entered into a week for celebration of this important ecological treatise, the most wide-ranging and sophisticated produced by any Christian denomination or organization. 

Saturday, May 24th, marked that decade since publication and during this week we are invited to worship, pray, and act on behalf of Creation. The United Church of Canada had its own Earth Week following Easter Sunday but we can all participate in this time as well. 

I was impressed by the participants in our group, all of whom were "grandparently" in age, myself included. They were eager to learn and passionate about "living with respect in Creation" a phrase added to what is our most beloved United Church statements of faith. 

During this week I will reflect on Laudato Si and why it is important for Protestants to pay attention to the message of Pope Francis. Here are the seven goals of the encyclical, all of them important and interconnected/